How to Use at the hands of in a Sentence

at the hands of

phrase
  • There's too much crime going on at the hands of foreign nationals.
    — Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 26 July 2026
  • The team suffered a four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox last weekend.
    — Andy McCullough, New York Times, 1 July 2026
  • Then there was another sweep, at the hands of the last-place Kansas Royals.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Court records show when Hursey was a child, his own mother was killed at the hands of his father following years of abuse.
    — Mike Hellgren, CBS News, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Former staffers alleged they also were subjected to violence at the hands of their boss.
    — Cheyenne Roundtree, VIBE.com, 24 July 2026
  • Miami’s July freefall continued with a home sweep at the hands of the Padres.
    — Tim Britton, New York Times, 27 July 2026
  • Ruiz’s case was not the first high-profile killing of a Black man at the hands of a police officer in Madison.
    — Matt Lavietes, NBC news, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Her death at the hands of rampaging cops helped ignite the nation’s racial reckoning in 2020.
    — Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
  • In the book, Finch recounts how a tumultuous childhood at the hands of an abusive adoptive mom led her to want to escape her homelife.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The Kherson Art Museum has suffered greatly at the hands of the current war.
    — Hikmat Mohammed, ARTnews.com, 24 Aug. 2026
  • This does not appear to be a happy film for anyone worried about environmental disaster at the hands of an oil executive.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 13 July 2026
  • In their suffering, the sisters say that God called them to help others who had experienced harm at the hands of leaders in The Church.
    — Adora Namigadde, NPR, 23 July 2026
  • The two countries share a long history of brutality at the hands of Russia, and Poland remains a key ally to Ukraine in the war.
    — ABC News, 25 Aug. 2026
  • But Ormund’s real secret weapon is Ulf, who has suffered enough indignity at the hands of the Blacks, or so he’s been persuaded.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026
  • But Jameson is hardly the first family pet to senselessly perish at the hands of law enforcement officers who resort to deadly force far too quickly.
    — Vanessa Shakib, Oc Register, 23 July 2026
  • The View From Canada Across the border, Canadians are digging in for long-term pain at the hands of their onetime ally.
    — Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Farage’s party was the big winner in local and regional elections in May that led to the ouster of Starmer at the hands of his own Labor Party.
    — Jill Lawless, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026
  • Sinon grows up as a young man off at war that is coerced by Odysseus to sacrifice themself at the hand of the Trojans, while convincing them into accepting the wooden horse as a gift.
    — Jon Root Outkick, FOXNews.com, 17 July 2026
  • For decades, advanced military powers have suffered at the hands of weaker forces employing asymmetric warfare, relying on hit-and-run tactics to inflict damage at low cost.
    — David Szondy july 13, New Atlas, 14 July 2026
  • Season 5 was a big one for Lucas, who watched Max die at the hands of Vecna (and get resurrected at the hands of Eleven) at the end of season 4.
    — Sezin Devi Koehler, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 2026
  • Young detainees have described inedible food, substandard medical care and callous treatment at the hands of guards and staff at immigration facilities.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Over the last year, advocates have collected declarations from scores of detainees describing inedible food, substandard medical care and callous treatment at the hands of guards and staff.
    — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026
  • While he was supposed to die at the hands of the state, California abolished the death penalty in 1972 — which resulted in his sentence being commuted to life in prison.
    — Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Amber Gates, who lives in Florida, alleges in the lawsuit that prison officials failed to take reasonable measures to keep her son safe and protect him from violence at the hands of other prisoners.
    — Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The Braves’ summer malaise is getting close to a free fall after yet another loss, this one at the hands of the visiting Cardinals at Truist Park on Tuesday.
    — Chad Bishop, AJC.com, 1 July 2026
  • Their only semifinal appearance in this stretch came at home in 2014, but ended with a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of the eventual champion Germans.
    — Andy Clayton, New York Daily News, 5 July 2026
  • For all its lighthearted, sapphic fun, Kris faces her fair share of jump scares at the hands of Billy and Little Death (Jack Haven), the ghost behind the camp’s murders.
    — Mya Copeland, Variety, 10 Aug. 2026
  • No one is better versed in, say, the dysfunctions of the writer-actress relationship than Valerie, who, in previous seasons, suffered endlessly at the hands of a misogynistic showrunner.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 22 July 2026
  • The 35-year-old was riding a 14-fight win streak since suffering his lone career defeat at the hands of Giovanni Auriemma in 2017.
    — Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 25 July 2026
  • But there is something else tied to his Jewish heritage that keeps things in perspective — the struggles his grandmother went through escaping liquidation at the hand of the Nazis in her Polish hometown.
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'at the hands of.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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